Treasurer grilled over election lead up spending (Q&A)

Josh Frydenberg has batted off some heavy questioning in the lead up to the election.

Tony Jones and Josh Frydenberg go head to head on Q&A. Picture: Q&ASource:ABC

The date of the much-anticipated federal election still hasn’t been announced and Australian voters — and the opposition — are getting antsy.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison decided to delay when Australia would go to the polls until the end of this week.

Labor today demanded the Morrison government come clean on how much taxpayers’ money will be spent on advertising in the lead-up to the federal election.

The government is able to continue using taxpayers’ money to plug its policies until an election is called and the public service enters caretaker mode.

Tonight, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg faced the Q&A audience, where he was questioned if it was “fair that taxpayers are paying for free advertising and free air travel for the Prime Minister and his ministers around the country for the Liberal Party?”

“Will you tonight, as Treasurer of the country, tell us the cost of that delay by a week,” the questioner asked.

This figure was compared by Labor to the record $254 million spent by the Howard government in one year in 2007 — the year Kevin Rudd won the election.

Mr Frydenberg insisted the exact amount the government was spending “will become public”.

“You’re saying after the election?” Jones responded.

“After the election,” Mr Frydenberg conceded.

When Jones revealed a report from The Age showed the Morrison government had given itself enough time to spend at least $5 million more this week, the treasurer cut in.

“As I said, these programs are rolling out and all those numbers will be publicly available. Let me explain some facts,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“Do you know the answer or are you saying you won’t tell anyone until after the election?” Jones responded.

Mr Frydenberg said the ads were focused on “information programs” rather than budget initiatives.

“They’re plans scheduled to roll out like I said. But in the 2017-18 years, the costs of all these campaigns are published by the relevant departments,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“For example, when it was then my department in energy, they published their campaign, which was about $10 million. There was programs for informing people...they’re focused on these information programs.”

The treasurer was hit with budget questions tonight. Picture: Q&ASource:ABC

The plans being spruiked by the government include concessions to businesses hiring staff, programs on power bills, recruitment in the defence force and educating parents about cyber safety.

The issue around government spending was brought up in a Senates estimates committee today.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the government would continue to promote online safety for children, defence recruitment, incentives to employ apprentices and reducing electricity bills.

“Just because there is an election around the corner doesn’t mean that we now all of a sudden all have to go into conspiracy theories,” he told the Senate hearing.

“You are complaining about the Prime Minister and the Treasurer (Josh Frydenberg) talking to the Australian people a week after the budget,” he said.

Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek today said taxpayers had “a government using your tax dollars to advertise to you about the dodgy cuts they have made in health and education”.

“It’s a dodgy ad man using taxpayers’ funds to lie to taxpayers about what the government’s doing,” Ms Plibersek said.

“As we watched Senate estimates this morning we found out, in fact it is even worse than we thought. This government is now spending about $1 million a day, of your money, telling you what a great job they are doing.”

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